Jonathan sat among the children, watching them exchange stories and jokes as if they were in a park on an ordinary spring day.
Even Emma, who had been quiet at first, began to smile and mimic bird calls, making Luca burst into laughter.
Sarah danced lightly on her tiptoes, while Noor hummed a strange melody, as if taken from a forgotten time.
As for Lena, she sat close to Jonathan, watching him with warm eyes.
Suddenly, she reached out and brushed her fingers gently against his cheek.
"You're... strange. But I feel comfortable with you."
Jonathan's face turned red, and he quickly turned his face away:
"I'm... not used to this kind of closeness."
Lena laughed lightly:
"Strange and cute - a good combination."
But...
The moment didn't last long.
All the children suddenly fell silent.
The air changed.
That aura...
"He's coming..."
Lena whispered, gripping Jonathan's hand tightly.
A cold feeling, as if the very breath of death had swept through the place.
Emma stood up, her gaze becoming sharp.
Mike pointed toward the door:
"Go down to the first floor... quickly!"
...
At that exact moment, the man in the green robe opened the door.
Heavy silence, his eyes scanning the room.
But he found no one.
...
On the first floor of the palace, the children ran through dark, ancient corridors.
They reached a strange hall with twelve wooden doors arranged in an arc.
"It's... the Gateways!"
Sarah cried out.
But before anyone could finish speaking...
All the doors opened at once.
And from them... emerged multiple copies of the man in the green robe.
Twelve copies.
Each holding a different weapon:
One gripping a massive hammer.
Another waving a bloodstained cleaver.
One holding a double-bladed axe.
Another carrying a spear twisted like a snake...
And one with fingers transforming into sharp claws.
Each copy was silent... except for one.
It stood in the center, then slowly stepped forward, speaking in an overlapping voice, as if thousands of souls were speaking at once:
"You laugh... have you forgotten who we are?"
"You've forgotten... that we are your shadows. That you once... belonged to us."
The copies began to move.
Lena stood in front of Jonathan, spreading her arms.
"Stay behind me... no matter what happens."
But Jonathan wasn't the same as before.
His eyes were trembling... but that golden aura began to slowly rise from his body.
...
And in the mirror world...
Maomao ran through the glass maze, searching for the mirror "that doesn't reflect what's in his heart."
And in his heart, only one thing echoed:
"Jonathan... hold on!"
On the first floor of the palace, under the dim lights of chandeliers that had lost their luster, the battle began.
Luca screamed as he jumped in the air, trying to block one of the cleaver-wielding copies, but the opponent countered with the weapon's hilt and pushed him back forcefully.
Sarah used transparent threads emerging from her fingertips, wrapping them around the arms of a massive copy holding a hammer, but it barely slowed him down.
Suddenly, from the middle of the hallway, George stepped forward - usually the quiet one, but now... something completely different was radiating from his body.
"Enough nonsense..."
He muttered in a cold voice.
His arms turned into black liquid, dark ink pulsing as if alive!
He spread the ink in the air like snakes, quickly coiling around two of the copies, binding them tightly.
"I may be half a soul... but that means I have no limits!"
George shouted, the ink thickening, pulsing with his heartbeat.
But...
One of the other copies, the one holding an axe, tore through the ink with a single strike!
The two bound copies broke free.
"Damn...!"
George exclaimed, stumbling back, but he smiled a small smile.
"But I bought you time, didn't I?"
...
In the heart of the chaos, Lena held Jonathan's hand tightly and reached her other hand toward Emma.
"Hold on to me! We can't protect him in the middle of this battle!"
She dashed off with them quickly, and...
Passed through the wall as if it were vapor!
No cracks. No debris.
Just smooth passage, as if the walls had turned to light.
"How... did you do that?"
Jonathan asked, looking back in astonishment.
Lena answered without turning:
"We don't belong to this world... so sometimes we can transcend it."
...
But what Lena didn't notice...
Jonathan's eyes had begun to glow with a golden-yellow light.
A soft aura started emanating from his body, resembling the sun's rays at dawn.
Emma felt it.
She looked at him, her eyes trembling:
"Lena... do you feel that? This energy... it's extraordinary."
Lena didn't respond, but she tightened her grip on his hand even more.
"That's why... I won't let them take him. No matter what."
...
Down below, the battle continued.
Kai used his voice to confuse the copies, his screams like waves piercing the air.
Noor sang in a whisper, causing the ground beneath her feet to light up, and anyone who stepped on it slowed down.
But...
The copies didn't stop.
Step by step...
As if they felt no pain.
As if they knew no fatigue.